Toys, life and people

Mole’s house revisited

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about a local favourite ‘Mole’s house‘ I went on to pop a condensed version of the same post up in my column in the Strathallan Times. The response to both was brilliant, my original post is the most viewed post I’ve written on here (it even surpassed my post about Barbie with no make up) but it was the reaction the article in the Strathallan Times that really surprised me. Just a few weeks later the imagineer behind one of Crieff’s favourite little secrets actually came forward after reading my article. It was a lady by the name of Pat Barron who put the little display together outside of mole’s door as a way of keeping her grandchildren occupied when they went out for a walk. She seemed genuinely surprised that mole’s house was so well known and so well loved in the community, and I have to admit it’s lovely to think that something that started out as such a simple idea has managed to lodge so well in the hearts of so so many local parents and children.

Thank you Pat for contributing something truly magical to our little town, I hope many more locals take a leaf out of your book. Recently comedian Mark Thomas came to the MacRobert in Stirling with a show describing his project called ‘100 acts of minor dissent‘ and it appears that the idea is gaining momentum. Imagine how great it would be if these acts provided something positive and lasting. An unofficial fruit garden in a local country spot or more little surprise things for children, like mole’s house (where parents themselves will have to judge safety rather than run under the advice of health and safety regulations). Of course I don’t officially sanction or recommend such activity, officially, but in some hypothetical world wouldn’t it be a fun thing to see?

Back to the Strathallan Times: on top of the article on Pat Barron there was also a follow up letter to the editor which appeared the following week which was written by mole himself, explaining the history of his house sign and how grateful he was for the gifts left for him by local children. From these two responses in the Times one of the biggest surprises, for me, was probably the fact that enough people read my column for it to have had this kind of effect. When it comes to my writing I have the habits that many bloggers probably do. At least two or three times a day I check my readership numbers to see how popular what I wrote was and if I’m ever lucky enough to receive a comment I jump to it and try to get a reply out as quickly as possible. However, when using an ‘old fashioned’ medium like a newspaper there are no stats to look at, no comments section to engage with.

Once the article is published you just have to hope that those that read it liked what they read and that perhaps one or two of them might mention it to a friend or they may even go so far as to find my blog and pop along with a follow and a comment. Seeing Pat’s resonse in the Strathallan Times a few weeks ago was brilliant and made me feel as though I must be, if nothing else, readable which is always a good thing for any writer to hear.

Just a short wee post this time to celebrate the power of the written word and the creativity of people. Thanks as always for reading and feel free to follow (e-mail box on the right) or comment (in the box below), if you do either you can guarantee you’ll get at the very least a ‘woohoo’ from me (and maybe even a wee jump). Cheers, John